Education is received through three formal sectors - schooling, vocational education and training, and higher education. Non-formal education also takes place outside of these institutions, for example on-the-job training in the workplace and self-directed learning.

CHILD CARE

It is recognised that early childhood education such as preschool and child care are highly beneficial for children's development and transition to school. In NSW in 2005, 88% of four year olds and 74% of three year olds attended at least one formal setting - either school, preschool or formal child care. Over half of four year olds (54%) attended preschool and 43% attended some sort of formal child care including 34% who attended long day care.

8.1 PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL, PRESCHOOL AND CHILD CARE,
Children aged 3 and 4 years, NSW-2005

In 2008, all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sat national literacy and numeracy tests for the first time. Prior to this each state had a set of tests that were equivalised to national benchmarks. The most recent results available for NSW tests are for 2006. In 2006, the minimum NSW standards for literacy were not met by 8.0% of Year 3 students, 6.1% of Year 5 students, and 3.8% of Year 7 students.

The strength of the tests are that they highlight populations or regions that are doing less well. For both literacy and numeracy, there was a substantial gap between Indigenous achievement compared to the results for all students. The proportion of Indigenous students not meeting the NSW benchmarks were considerably higher than for all students: 25% of Year 3 students, 20% of Year 5 students, and 13% of Year 7 students.

Basic numeracy benchmarks were not met by 9.1% of total Year 3 students, 5.4% of Year 5 students, and 7.1% of Year 7 students. For Indigenous students, numeracy benchmarks were not met by 25% of Year 3 students, 17% of Year 5 students, and 21% of Year 7 students.

8.2 GOVERNMENT SCHOOL STUDENTS NOT MEETING LITERACY BENCHMARKS, NSW - 2006

8.3 GOVERNMENT SCHOOL STUDENTS NOT MEETING NUMERACY BENCHMARKS, NSW - 2006

Adult literacy is important for the social and economic wellbeing of the nation. The 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey assessed a sample of people aged 15 to 74 on five scales: prose literacy, document literacy, numeracy, problem solving and health literacy. In NSW, Level 3 or above (regarded by the survey developers as effectively functional literacy) was achieved by 54% of the population on the prose literacy scale, 53% on the document literacy scale, 48% on the numeracy scale, 30% on the problem solving scale, and 41% on the health literacy scale. These proportions were similar for the Australian population as a whole.

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